Seeking the Past to Conquer the Future
by Guardian55
Summary: For Freljord, the time for many things has come. For the Winter Claw and Avarosan, war has begun. For the Frostguard - for Lissandra and the Watchers - plans are set in motion. Victory means total control over the north. Yet, who will win? Hopefully Ashe when she meets the young man, "Hail", who, um, has emerged from the depths of a fully frozen lake? Wait, what? OC x Frel Champs


Chapter One: "Hints of the Things to Come"

"_**All choices, especially the sinisterly made ones, have unforeseen consequences. And no matter how long it takes – be it an hour, a day, a century even – those consequences always catch up to the one who caused them. Always."**_** – Lost Freljordian Wisdom, Paragraph 25/Sentence 15**

* * *

_**Oh, how very delicious this sight was to behold. In one last ditch effort to try to keep their freedom, Ashe and Sejuani's tribes, forces, allies… stood together against Lissandra the Ice Witch? Ho ho ho, a most unexpected twist in strategy! Well, no matter! That made no difference. At the end of today, the northern world would be buried in ice!**_

Ah yes, after having bided her time for far too many centuries, how very entertaining it was for Lissandra at this moment to see that the formerly feuding tribes of freezing Freljord – the Winter Claws as well as Avarosans – had actually united together to vainly resist her for one last time; to resist she who was the false monarch of the corrupted Frostguard, the prophet of the Frozen Watchers, and now the soon to be ruler of all of the northern realm! Well, heh, quite ironically, the northern peoples newly found alliance had come too late.

Now, with her dark armies charging forward into the last free plain, how satisfying it was for the wicked Ice Witch to observe the remainder of the north's supposedly unbreakable tribes gradually cave into defeat, into her power… into the inevitable embrace of the chilly Watchers.

Hmf, for their approaching losses, for the coming of the next ice age, as their lifeblood was spilled and frozen upon the billowing snowy plains that was fated to be their last battlefield for freedom, the Winter Claws and Avarosans – Freljordians altogether – had no one to blame but themselves at the moment. Unlike their ancestors hundreds of years back, they had been or had grown too divided. They'd been too ignorant of the past to endure the approaching future. They had stupidly been opposite enough to not set aside their differences and see what the threat to them was really; the growing signs of the return of the bringers of black ice.

Before here and now where death was so very heavy in the severely frosty air, before they were being overwhelmed by Watcher beasts, fanatics, as well as more, the remnants of the Freljordians could have done so very much to stop or even prevent the many lives being lost at indulged Lissandra's whim.

True, Freljord's downfall against the Ice Witch had begun the instant she had adopted her human appearance those many hundreds of years ago to twist the valiant ways of the strong Frostguard. Nevertheless, the true reason for why the frozen north would now belong to the worshippers of black ice today onwards was due to the recent choices of two stubborn leaders; the feuding rival ice sisters, "Ashe" and "Sejuani".

Yes, thanks to their ignorance, thanks to their being blind to what else was happening all the while their tribes had battered away at each other for the last few months, the Frost Archer and Winter's Wrath had ironically not won the throne of Freljord or anything at all. Instead, much to Lissandra's colder than cold delight if not hilarity, they were now destined to lose their honor, their people, even their very lives at the end of this day.

My oh my. If only Ashe as well as Sejuani had not been butting heads all through the latest spring, summer, and autumn. If only they had ceased their bickering back in the day to look around for only one minute to see the black ice forming to take them down. If they had taken notice of Lissandra's ancient plot for conquest before this moment, if they had learned to turn their aggression towards the Frostguard instead of on one another, they might have possibly put on a better performance of resistance than now against the hordes of Watchers, trolls, minions, along with more the Ice Witch had unleashed upon them days ago.

In the end though, as it had been preplanned at the start of everything, at the moment the Ice Witch had decided to order her most impatient armies to attack… the foolish Winter Claws along with Avarosans hadn't expected it all. Like trees in the way of an avalanche, completely blindsided, they were cut down by those loyal to the Watchers – inside and outside of Ashe's and Sejuani's tribes – with horrific ease.

In a matter of a week, in just seven days, Lissandra had dealt numerous crucial blows against the competition for the dominance of Freljord. As unprepared as she'd predicted they would be since she'd assumed her human form, stupidly even, the other warring ice sisters and their tribes had then decided to unite their crippled forces to attempt to, well, push the Watchers' own back. If the Ice Witch along with her minions could be disposed of, then Ashe and Sejuani could go about warring with each other again for the monarchy of Freljord.

Indeed, since they had started trying together, Ashe's and Sejuani's design to remove Lissandra from the picture had been a false hope. Repeatedly, even though the Winter Claws were a melee force to be feared during any war and the Avarosans were gifted archers that fantastically supported from afar with deadeye precision, the Watchers would not – could not – be denied again.

Thus, without end, with their morale dropping and their numbers dwindling, the tribes of Freljord could not find victory against the Ice Witch's forces nor her power. For the past week, all they could do was keep freezing, keep failing, keep dying.

And now, out in the last free open plain, it seemed the remainders of the united Freljordian clans were as ready as they were going to be to face their unavoidable end. Standing firmly together in the face of certain doom, with their weapons drawn, faces set, spirits a tremble but strong, the Winter Claws, Avarosans, Ursine, all northern folk alike or what was left of them, were heavily prepared in the morning when Lissandra came for them with her immense ranks of beasts, trolls, warriors, along with corruption roaring behind her.

It was true. Once in the past, due to a simple underestimation, the powers of black ice had lost to supposedly these "fragile" mortals who called themselves Freljordians. Yet, BAH to that rubbish! That mistake would not be made this time! Not with victory so evidently close at hand.

No, after having had century upon century to spin her webs, to silence her adversaries, to wipe the minds of so many northern folk of the several heroes who had defeated her previously and prevented her empire from being complete, Lissandra had come too far to possibly lose everything now. She was the prophet of the Frozen Watchers, conjurer of the blackest ice, and now she would even be the invincible ruler of the coldest age of Freljord to date. Ah, the Black Ice Empress of the North. That had a nice ring to it… didn't it?

And while she glided through the battlefield where the last resistant battle for freedom against her was being decided, as she icily blasted apart or impaled or even entombed whoever supposedly bravely but foolishly confronted her, Lissandra very well proved she was invincible. You see, it was not often that she was able to so fluently, powerfully, as well as casually summon her full arcane strength against her foes. Still, considering what was about to transpire, she had more than enough reason to not hold back for a change, didn't she?

Nothing – no Winter Claw's flail, no Ursine's paw, no Avarosan's arrow – came close to even nicking the Ice Witch as she mercilessly smashed, crushed, froze, along with ended groups of enemies in her path. In her wake in the meantime, she left an endless trail of broken corpses, a variety of frozen black ice statues, along with decimated warrior formations.

As she went about her heartless business of ending valiant lives, while she ended many a brave tundra fighter that dared to oppose her at the peak of her power, Lissandra kept her senses keenly alert… and took immediate notice when a mighty boar beast mounted by a mightier woman charged from the right!

"Cursed witch! You have no right to sneer at anything!" Sejuani furiously screamed from atop her mount – durable "Bristle" – towards smirking Lissandra while charging, rapidly swinging her feared true ice flail above her one-horned helmed head meanwhile, "You have not won yet! Let me show you the truest strength of a Winter Claw! Then I assure you that you won't be smiling like that any – AUGH!"

When squealing Bristle was literally knocked off of his sturdy hooves next, when his confident rider was bodily thrown onto the snowy yet red tinged ground, it had not been the doing of the Ice Witch. No, upon the side of baffled Sejuani's tipped over along with panicking ride, holding the mightily struggling pig down with both chilly magic and strength, a twisted ebony, armored version of Anivia let loose a chilling cry in the dismayed face of Winter Claw's princess!

Oh, how delightful! How very epic! The surprised expression Sejuani was showing at the arrival of corrupted, twisted, evil "Anivia" – the former Cryophoenix and Ice Guardian of Freljord – was downright priceless! That was the expression the Ice Witch lived for, thrived off of, drew strength from! Especially when it came from such a proud if not bold soul like the theoretically uncaring leader of the Winter Claws!

Yes, Anivia the Cryophoenix was no more. Well actually, heh, with her pinning Bristle down in the frost at the moment, she was still around but obviously not in the same way.

A few days back and as Lissandra had been aiming to do for some time since she'd started taking the north by storm, the formerly noble cryopheonix had been captured by the Frostguard, had been brought before the Ice Witch, and had had her allegiances, heh, turned for the better. For the Watchers' better, anyway.

Oh, there was no reason to weep for the corrupted phoenix guardian of Freljord. After all, seeing as how the newest age of black ice had come, there was no real reason to fret over her recent change in loyalty. One way or the other, the age of the Frozen Watchers had come… and where Freljord changed for better or worse, so did its cryo guardian.

Ha ha, so, Anivia's recent change was only natural. No matter how much she had resisted it beforehand, no matter her attempts to avoid it, she now was part of the black ice. And soon enough, even as Sejuani regained her former spark of courage to combat the cryophoenix, the rest of the north would follow Anivia's example; they would accept the embrace of the black ice too.

"Out of my way, bird!" The princess of the Winter Claws savagely snarled at equally fierce Anivia, trying to act like she was not at all remotely concerned about maybe having to smash the phoenix aside when Lissandra knew she was, "Finally caved into the corruption, have you? Finally given into that witch's temptations?"

When Anivia screamed a blast of bitingly cold wind in her face in reply to her questions, Sejuani roared back with her pale eyes alight with ferocity, "FINE! Then I'll free you from her grasp, Anivia! I'll be the one to end your pain forevermore! Just hold still, would you?"

Ah, it was quite entertaining for the Ice Witch to see Sejuani try to act like she didn't really care about anything. Since she had been a child, it was common knowledge in the realm that the princess of the Winter Claws had always put on a kind of mask that had cut her off from others and supposedly made her stronger alone. Yet, in the end, on this last battlefield before the black ice took over everything, the Ice Witch knew that that small glint showing in the boar rider's pale eyes was actually fueled by remorse for Anivia's forced change. Not hate.

Truly, although she attempted her best to not reveal it when whipping her flail about, it appeared that Sejuani was showing that she had grown over the past week to care for those she had formerly hated; the Avarosans, the Ursine, Anivia, all of Freljord, just before the newest dark ice age.

How very sweet of the Winter's Wrath to begin loving things other than herself. How very quaint. How very… hmf, pointless.

Purposefully flicking her long nailed cobalt shaded fingers towards the cryophoenix – her newest plaything for the ill centuries to come – Lissandra disdainfully magically commanded Anivia to assume a challenging poise towards the riled up boar rider. As for the boar itself, poor Bristle, he let out a hurt squeal as the bird perched upon him dug its colder than cold claws into his hardened side!

"Let go of my Bristle! Your fight is with me, cryophoenix!" Sejuani raged at hearing her mount cry out in pain, smashing her whirling flail into the snowdrift nearby to spray up earth, "Let him go or, gladly, I'll make you let him go! NOW!"

No one told Lissandra, the future queen of the Freljord, what to do. Especially an ant like supposedly durable yet weakened Sejuani. Even so, at the small yet purposeful snap of the Ice Witch's outstretched fingers, the cryophoenix did indeed let go of pinned Bristle as told. Nevertheless, this was only because the ice bird had launched herself forward towards the opposing boar rider with unimaginable speed that not only caused a massive shockwave but froze everything in her course's way! And unfortunately, although finally let go, when jumped off of, Bristle was silenced as well as locked within a boulder of thick ice from Anivia's surge in arcane strength!

All around, warriors on both sides – on Lissandra's and Sejuani's – were frozen completely solid with Anivia's passing! Then, even as she looked to put up some kind of last fight, even as she let loose a formidably inspired battle cry at the sight of her dear Bristle being locked in black ice, the princess of the Winter Claws was instantly turned into an icy statue when the cryophoenix soared over her with a massive blast of frosty wind!

Just like that, at the snap of some fingers, one of the three ice sisters of Freljord, the leader of the failing Winter Claws, was now no more. Dealt the cryptic sentence of being frozen solid by black ice like the many before her for the last week, like her loyal Bristle on his side, Sejuani was now and would forevermore be a black statuette in this deathly plain; infinitely poised for a fight she had never had any real hope in winning against the Ice Witch who, clicking her fingers together again, had Anivia return to her corrupt side.

With the ebony ice phoenix prepared, Lissandra next gestured out over the surrounding crowds of fighting armies. Her gesture was clear enough: find the last ice sister. Amid the warring figures, find the frost archer, the princess of the Avarosans, Ashe.

Yet, it was as armored Anivia soared away with a chilling screech that the search for the most beautiful archer of frost didn't last long. Not when a single large arrow of pure true frost precisely nailed into the cryophoenix's chest from below, made the icy bird revert to her egg form, and weakly land in a puff of snow at the feet of none other than the only remaining sister who could oppose Lissandra now.

Yes, with her enchanted bow in hand, dressed in the most regal of northern clothes, Ashe of the Avarosan bravely if not defiantly stood before the imposing, powerful, even entertained Lissandra.

It was funny but… where Ashe's darling "Tryndamere", that Barbarian King fellow, was in the midst of the battling warriors all around, the Ice Witch couldn't answer for sure. Yet, why did she care at all about that dull witted master of supposed fury? No, there was no reason for her to worry at all about his insignificant whereabouts for he did not nor could not – even with his fabled undying rage – pose a threat to the Frozen Watchers like this ivory haired marksman, this heir of long lost queen Avarosa, did.

Here and now, when the Frost Archer was finished off, Freljord would completely and unquestionably belong to the Frozen Watchers! Yes, as she refreshed all of her potent arcane abilities, Lissandra would deal the same fate to Ashe as she had dealt to Sejuani! And during the course of the ice age to come after today, during the Frozen Watchers' future reign over the north, the princess of the Avarosans would be a statue of black ice in this plain! She, the Avarosans, the Winter Claws, the Ursine, everything but the Watchers would be buried in the newest empire's black ice!

When they finally faced off amid the so many warriors fighting for the darkening future of Freljord, no words were exchanged between Ashe nor Lissandra. Unlike Sejuani, no shouting or anything verbal had to be said. The Frost Archer and Ice Witch already knew their goals. They knew what was at stake as well as how very much they despised each other.

So, truly, there was no need for anything to be said. The princess of the Avarosans and Ice Witch of the Watchers only needed to act, to fire an icy volley of arrows true and cast a menacing claw of corrupted ice towards one another!

Despite the fact that she aimed to do what was right at the fated moment, even though her purpose in fighting in the very first place was to unite Freljord into a grand nation of peace, Ashe's frost arrows didn't stand any chance against Lissandra's coming claw of blackened ice! Her battle with the witch was not part of a story book. It was part of unfair reality. And in this reality, Freljord had basked too long in ignorance to find victory against the Frozen Watchers at this point.

For hundreds of years, the north had always been doomed to belong to the black ice. It had been doomed to belong to the Frozen Watchers and no other.

So, before she could even reach for more of them in her quiver, the Avarosan princess's ice projectiles shattered against the Ice Witch's ice claw spell and the Ice Witch herself stood in place where the dark claw had been only moments ago! Then, seizing the last ice sister that could lead the resistance against her by the shoulders, Lissandra eagerly began the process of freezing determined Ashe in place!

There, in the middle of the raging battle between the Watcher forces and the free Freljordians, the Frost Archer slowly succumbed to the chilly punishment the Ice Witch was putting her through. Nevertheless, during the entire process of being sealed inch by inch in a solid coating of the darkest colored ice, the frosty markswoman never stopped staring up into the humored expression of her wicked adversary.

Without saying anything, with her pale eyes stating what needed to be said, Ashe practically stared past Lissandra's hammerhead styled helm visor and into her. In turn, the witch understood that the Avarosan princess had accepted her defeat along time ago… but she still greatly believed in her people, in her land, in her ancestors.

The Frozen Watchers may have won this age. Despite the difficulty, Ashe had accepted that fact. Nevertheless, someone, something, would end their reign someday sooner or later. In that hope, the frost archer resolutely believed.

Bravery, loyalty, heroism? Heh, what foolish sentiments for peaceful Ashe to hold onto while just about to lose everything. Was it not a stupid ideal for her to maintain optimism when the Frozen Watchers had clearly come back stronger than ever? Freljord was about to be born anew! It would be buried in ice! The days of petty mortals, of all tribes, were over and done with!

Thus, with a smile creeping across her frigid face beneath her hammer-head helmet and Avarosan's princess's face remaining as brave as ever, Lissandra slowly finished in freezing the last apposing ice sister! Then, stepping back, she took great delight in observing how very pathetic both Ashe as well as Sejuani – the two formerly last hopes for Freljord's freedom – looked while immobile in the tainted snow!

It was over. The resistance effort was finished. Whatever hope was in the hearts of those that sought to remain free of the black ice empire, whatever light there was glimmering in the darkness, it was all lost the instant Ashe had been fully entombed in the darkest of ice.

Now there was no one who could keep the north from belonging to the greatest powers of the tundra, the Frozen Watchers! Now, as it had been planned out for too many centuries, the long awaited ice age – the dark empire – could commence uninterrupted!

Or… could it really?

Was Freljord truly devoid of hope for freedom, could the newest ice age really begin, when – with a most impressive spike in power – a force to be reckoned rushed into the fray from behind the triumphant yet startled Ice Witch?

Lissandra, caught quite off guard by the sudden surge in power from her rear blind spot, spun around in place to instantly unleash numerous blasts of icy shards which exploded into lethal frost shrapnel at contact with whoever or whatever was coming for her! And why had the witch taken to suddenly calling upon all of her might plus more when she had just won Freljord? Well, with the strength she was sensing from her newest opponent coming for her… maybe she hadn't won quite yet.

How very inconvenient this was turning out to be. Quite surprisingly, unlike the many that had stood against her since she'd started overwhelming the conflicted north seven days back, the Ice Witch's icy assault against her newly approaching opponent did not slow it down. Instead, with the raise of its noble shield, the approaching figure took the brunt of the lethal arcane barrage while still running forward! Then, when her newest foe was just getting to her and had swung its brilliant mace, Lissandra teleported herself out of the way of what turned out to be a most epic, destructive, massive downward blow that shot much earth, snow, along with nearby fighters back from the point of impact!

The insane shockwave behind the strike of Lissandra's newest opponent literally wiped away her former confidence that she'd just won Freljord for the Frozen Watchers. Not only did her adversary's mace blow trip many a nearby warrior with a great quake but it also somehow… broke frozen allies free of their black ice coating – including Ashe and Sejuani – and even breathed renewed life into the fallen, the broken, the dead who had been fighting before death and now would continue to fight for their freedom!

No! How was this possible?! How had this feat of destroying the Frozen Watchers' black ice and bringing back the deceased been done?!

Most of all that Lissandra wanted to know, who was this stranger that had just stepped forward from the fray; this young man with the blackest hair, the sharpest eyes as blue as lightning, suited in a royally caped suit of silver-sapphire plate armor, wielding a magnificent mace as well as round shield of true ice?! Where in the wide Freljord had he come from and now was turning the very tide of battle into favor for the freedom fighters?!

No… no, no, no, no, no! Now what was happening?! The forces of the Ice Witch, they were suddenly losing, faltering, retreating from the newest young man who had entered the battle!

Blasting away groups of foes with mere swings of his regal mace, freeing his fellows from the witch's black ice with more ground pounds, riling the spirits of the nearby Ursine, Winter Claws, and Avarosans around him, the lightning blue eyed Freljordian youth in silver plate armor was rapidly proving to be a most unforeseen thorn in the Frozen Watchers' sides! Especially to their seething emissary, Lissandra herself.

As the now fiercely united tribes under the leadership of unconscious yet freed Ashe and Sejuani began to courageously push the enemy back, all suddenly inspired by the recent arrival of the true ice mace/shield wielding black haired young man who's blows were stronger and more mythical than believable, centuries of careful cunning along with precise planning was falling apart before Lissandra's disbelieving eyes!

Yet, how could that be? How could the tide of this fight, this last fight that seemed so very easily winnable, be shifting against the Frozen Watchers all of a sudden?

How had this young man with the blackest hair come to gain such awesome power that rallied the free peoples of Freljord, freed his foes from the dark ice, and even allowed him to stand against the Ice Witch as she savagely assailed him in one last attempt to keep the favor of battle on her side! Not only allowed him to stand against her but even gradually get the best of her too!

Indeed, as her forces were actually running from the many free as well as revived Freljordians, Lissandra engaged the silver armored youth that was turning out to be her – the Watcher's – worst nightmare. Yet, no matter how strongly she willed it, no matter how powerful her arcane abilities were charged against him, the young man snatching a most assured victory from the Ice Witch's grasp did not cave into weariness, did not show the slightest signs of weakness, nor did he ever take a step back but kept on coming at her.

With much cursing under her breath, blast after blast of dark ice the witch smashed into her unshakable opponent's raised shield. Mockingly, spell after spell failed her and, to her greatest shock, she found her previously immortal spirit did too. Seriously, was she actually afraid of this regally armored youth? Of his capabilities?

This young man who's mace swings were stronger than anything, he… he was something else! He wasn't like the rest of the Freljordians! He had to be!

To stand up against the Frozen Watchers like this, to have revived the nearly dead spirit of the north into being so alive again, he was much like… how the ancient heroes had been during those many centuries ago; during the first defeat of the Frozen Watchers.

Hold on, that emblem that looked to be a kind of ancient arrowhead or blade on his right pauldron… it was familiar. Yes but no, that emblem it – it – it was the same as the one's of the ancient heroes of Freljord, of the heroes who had stopped the rise of Lissandra's first dark ice empire!

So, did that mean this youth with the lightning blue eyes was somehow connected to those legendary champions? He… he couldn't be. Yet, with the power he presently showed off while fighting her, the ability to lead a losing army towards victory instead, the capability to shatter the Watchers' dark ice with his true ice, there was no denying it.

From nowhere, a true descendant of the legendary heroes of Freljord had come forth and now was getting the better of desperate Lissandra! A flash of the past had literally appeared out of thin air!

"Insolence!" The witch snarled to herself in the iciest tone, just managing to barely avoid a right hooked swing of the black haired young man's mace by teleporting herself away to elsewhere, "Cease this at once! I am the true ruler of this frigid land! No matter who you are, no matter how strong you think you are, this realm will belong to me! You've come too late to change that!"

"No, I have not arrived at all late." The young man simply replied in the smoothest if not most confident tone, pausing a moment in his attacks against the aggravated witch to exchange a few bitter words with her, "No, you will not rule this land. You will fail. You will falter. You will be shattered, Lissandra of the Frozen Watchers, like the black ice you favor so much."

"Fool! You will be silent!" Lissandra cried out in fury while recharging her powers up for a massive spell, now finding it completely crazy that she was actually unnerved by her enemy's words, "In the presence of the future monarch of Freljord, in the presence of the prophet of the Frozen Watchers, you will hold your tongue! And you will also learn your place!"

"Just like I did when I faced you before now, I already know my place in this certain age and place, Lissandra." The youth in caped silver-sapphire armor replied coolly, resolutely raising his epic mace into the chilly air to rapidly spin it around by its leather strap in the meantime, "It's here. It's between you and those, everything, you would… attempt to corrupt."

"Hah, you know nothing!" The Ice Witch sharply exclaimed in an attempt to sound not afraid, her powerful spell at the ready now as well as making the air around her darken into flakes of ebony, "Nothing stands between me and my empire! Nothing stands in the way of the Frozen Watchers! You shall witness that here and now!"

"Then let me witness it, almighty witch." Was the relaxed response to her statement, "Let me judge your might. Prove me wrong. Bring about your so called unstoppable empire of wickedness, of tyranny, of the darkest ice. Dispose of me, he who will be your undoing."

"_**AND I SHALL! BE BURIED IN ICE, FOOL!"**_

With the air literally as black as night around her form, with the clouds forming above with low grumbles of thunder, Lissandra unleashed her everything towards he who was openly if not comfortably mocking her! Towards he who, still spinning his mace above his head with winds building up, was very well a legendary descendant of the oldest champions of Freljord!

And as the darkest of icy spells came for him – as the Ice Witch sought to overwhelm him with her arcane power that had always been known to the Frozen Watchers as "Frozen Tomb" – the black haired young man did not try to escape or show any hints of doubt. Even as the spell connected with him, as it encased him in a hammerhead glacier of black ice as it had done to Ashe and Sejuani earlier, he kept a cool face that showed no uncertainty but belief instead.

Much like Ashe had done to her before being encased in ice, as he suffered her frosty wrath, the youth that stood between Lissandra and her victory maintained a face that spoke without speaking. It stated that the young man spinning his true ice mace would not fall, that he would not back down, that he would not fail the Freljord… And then he was securely locked in Frozen Tomb.

Ha, fool! Frozen Tomb had done its work! None could withstand the might of the Frozen Watchers! None!

Yes, relieved Lissandra had frozen her newest nemesis solid! Stuck in place with his cape billowing, his mace raised high over his head in a spin, his shield held up to maybe protect him from what he could not be protected from, the silver-sapphire armored youth was finished! Frozen as stiff as any statue in existence, he could no longer inspire his fellows to ignore death nor free them from the black ice again.

But was he – the descendant of Freljord's oldest heroes – really as frozen as the Ice Witch had predicted? Was he really as defeated by her as she believed when, arcing from the building thunder clouds above, purple lightning flashed down onto his raised mace!

Instantly, at the second the lightning from the grumbling heavens met with his formerly spinning mace, the Frozen Tomb spell upon the successor of the heroes of Freljord was effectively broken! The black ice was stripped from him bit by bit by the purple lightning arcing from his spinning mace and quickly, before the witch that had temporarily immobilized him could register what was happening, he smashed his blunt weapon into the ground towards her!

And from his powered up strike, ripping through the ground towards her in a harsh column, a shockwave roared straight into Lissandra… but not before she had defensively sealed herself into her own impenetrable dark ice!

Immobilized in her cocoon of frost but well shielded from the most terrible blow, the Ice Witch was allowed a second of relief. Then she barely held her own as her enemy continued to send violet electric fringed shockwave after shockwave against her. And crazily enough, even with how immensely draining each mace strike had to of been for him, Lissandra's adversary showed no serious signs of stopping his shockwave barrage!

Little by little, with each tremendous hit against her glacial shell, the witch's guard was dropping. The Frozen Tomb shielding her – thought to be impervious to any harm – was actually… beginning to crack, to break, to splinter and the blows against her were only getting stronger! HOW?! Then, to her utter dismay, she lost all control over her powers, her plans, her reality.

Hit by the strongest blow ever that her nemesis could deliver, weakened more than she thought she could ever be, the Ice Witch collapsed in a heap amid the broken shards of her so called impenetrable dark ice shield. In the next instant, with his mace and shield, the successor of the heroes of Freljord was standing over her with a most grim expression.

"Impossible… This isn't happening!" Lissandra spat to herself, trying to push herself to her feet with what little strength she had in her drained body, "Bested… Me bested? By whom?"

"A relic of the past. A relic you have ignorantly overlooked this entire time." The youth in the grandest armor replied firmly, resolutely spinning the mace above his head to the rumbling heavens above, "You may have erased a lot of things about this land's heroic days, Lissandra… But you have not and cannot erase me. For you cannot go unpunished forever."

"And who are you to punish me?!" The Ice Witch snarled, throwing nearby snow at her newest rival in one last attempt to appear formidable, "Who are you to be foolish enough to speak down upon me?!"

"Is it not clear yet?" Was the answer to her firm question, "I am your undoing. I am your fatal flaw. I am from your past."

"F-from my past? Then that emblem on your right shoulder… are you truly a successor of they who-"

"Indeed, witch. We both know you paid a sinister price for your powers, your influence, many a year ago… and I have come to collect for all that has been lost because of you." The black haired young man grimly stated, summoning lighting unto his whirling mace that sinisterly thrummed in turn, "Now, for once, you will be the one who will be silent and prepare yourself for your ending."

And with that said, as she watched him with her heart a tremble and her brain in a complete state of shock not to mention brimming with lists of questions, the terrific youth in silver-sapphire armor – this individual who had descended from those that had defeated the black ice empire long ago – coldly brought his humming mace down upon she who should have won the last battle for Freljord, she who was the emissary of the Frozen Watchers, prodigious yet bested Lissandra, with a magnificent flash along with explosion of the arcane!

Who had actually just won over potent Lissandra? Who had epically turned the tide of battle from her forces into the favor of Ashe, Sejuani, of all the free Freljordians, singlehandedly?

And speaking of what had just transpired, of how the Ice Witch had just lost during her most frustrating moment of nearly having won all of the north after having centuries to plan, this terrible loss for the Frozen Watchers couldn't be real.

This had to be some kind of terrible dream, nightmare, vision, which Lissandra had just experienced… Right? As it would turn out, fortunate for her or maybe not, that was right.

* * *

_**End of "Hints of the Things to Come"…**_


End file.
